In bent-pipe satellite communication systems, terminals communicate together via a satellite. The satellite is used as a repeater and sends any data received from a particular terminal back to all of the other terminals. In satellite communication systems using time division multiple access (TDMA), a single carrier frequency is shared by all of the terminals to transmit data. A hub is in charge of the bandwidth allocation. Upon reception of bandwidth requests from the terminals, the hub generates a burst plan and sends it to the terminals. The burst plan indicates at which time or burst each terminal is allowed to send data.
Because a terminal has to first send a bandwidth request to the hub and then to wait for the burst plan, large time delays are generated before a terminal can send data. These delays can cause inefficient bandwidth utilization and large transfer delays.
Therefore, there is a need for a more efficient utilization of the bandwidth in satellite communication networks.